Transforming the Bathroom From Eeek to Chic

Welcome to my hall bathroom. Myself, my husband and our three children live in a 1,000 square foot 1970's "villa" that is in dire need of transformation. However, until our income gets a strong infusion of new blood, all the transforming will have to be done by me and on a shoe-string budget. This is quite a scary prospect when you consider I have little to no experience. My husband hasn't any more than I and zip-zilch-zippo desire. My oldest is a 20 year old man-child with many disabilities so he's no help (this is his bathroom, by the way--and yes, that's why it looks so incredibly grungy). My 15 year old daughter isn't interested in anything but her headphones and FB profile. Last but not least is my 8 year old son who would happily weild the five pound hammer for me if he could only lift it with his Betty-Spaghetti arms.

However, since the fan has been hanging at that jaunty angle for nearly two years, allowing mucho black mold to build up everywhere your average toothbrush and elbow grease can't dislodge it, we needed to take some action. If deciding to replace the fan six months after it breaks, than returning said fan out of pure DIY terror a week later, than letting it slide to the back of the brain box for another year, than buying another fan that seemed more do-able six months ago and looking at it where it sat on the garage mini freezer every time you went out could be described as "taking action" . . .

My oldest son (oft referred to as The Big Guy) has what I affectionately call "Sasquatch Toes". They are wide. They are broad. They are enormous. Apparently he decided to hang them from the overflow thingimajig one too many times and it has become dislodged. Add one overflow thingimajiggies to the list of purchases for this on-the-cheap bathroom transformation.

The grout is yucky. The mirror--one of those huge ones that covers the whole upper wall--is showing gray around the corners. The countertop, when cleared of the mold that thrives in the inches upon inches of water The Big Guy inflicts on it every single night when brushing his large and copious teeth (okay, I lied--he has just as many as the rest of us) isn't too bad. Since we can't afford to replace that, anyway, it stays. In this photo, one can see that the area across from the sink/toilet is fully taken up by the tub shower. Good to know (I guess?)

The fixture above the mirror is old, ugly and not in good working order. Since we found a replacement fixture at Costco with three alabaster shades for an unbelievable price, it's out! (And to think I had to talk The Spouse into it. He'll know how right I was to spend the pittance of money on it when it's up.)

The above photo shows where we were one hour into renovations. We plan to paint it a new wall color (we scored a can of blue paint on the returns table for a buck) as the color I painted it when we moved in is really just too purple. We will put a beaded board wainscoting on the end wall under the window, paint up all the trim, including the sink cabinet which is grody to the max, replace the light fixture, remove the large mirror and cut out a piece of it to fit into a garage sale frame, replace the toilet paper holder with one that juts out, allowing The Big Guy's big hands to get ahold of some (the old one is set into the wall--the one we are covering up with beaded board), clean the lime scale (or perhaps calcium deposits?) on the toilet and floor (did I mention that everyone refuses to use this bathroom but The Big Guy--there is good reason for this) and replace that bathtub overflow with a new thingimajiggie.

And we will do this with our sanity intact, and all for under $100!!! (Oh, what the hey, make it $75!)

Check back in a reasonable amount of time for me to make these changes pretty much all by myself to see the newly transformed hall bath!